What security in Italian watches? And what future of sales?
A re-opening in the name of safety, that of shops and showrooms dedicated to the world of jewelery and watchmaking. Amidst the social distancing and hygienic-sanitary rules, the world of luxury retail is once again opening its doors to customers, in addition to the digital world.
As explained in a recent interview with Pambianco by Stefano Amirante di Rocca 1974: "We are adapting our sales model to this new scenario: we want to continue to be a guarantee for our customers and a reference point in the sector".
According to the Fédération de industrie horlogère suisse, after the -9.2% recorded last February, the export of Swiss watches closed March down by 21.9% to 1.3 billion euros: indicative of the global moment especially the -41.3% recorded by sales volumes. Geographically, most markets have experienced a sharp drop, starting from Italy, which marks a -57 percent. Also noteworthy is the recovery of the Chinese market, with exports at +10 percent.
"The situation is constantly changing and it is difficult to make predictions - Chiara Pisa, CEO of Pisa Orologeria underlines in the same interview - I have the hope that Italy and Milan will return to be one of the favorite destinations for international tourism; let's not forget the importance of Milan as a destination for that business tourism that will start even earlier. In general, therefore, especially in the early days, internationality will be less, something to think about, but that does not represent an insurmountable problem. Pisa Orologeria has an important percentage of Italian customers, whose interest and enthusiasm for watchmaking has never stopped."
And if luxury jewels and watches are durable goods over time and at a time like the present can also represent a good allocation for their savings, the interest in collecting remains high. And buying a piece of watchmaking history can be a good investment. For example, a pink gold Patek Philippe made in 1953 and marked with our logo, Gobbi1842, was auctioned by Christie's for 9 million dollars.
